Roy Dias

Roy Luke Dias (born 18 October 1952 in Colombo), popularly as Roy Dias, is a former Sri Lankan cricketer who played Tests and ODIs for Sri Lanka. He was hailed from Negombo chetty Tamil origin.

An elegant and stylish right-handed batsman he played 20 Test matches and became the first Sri Lankan to hit 1,000 Test runs. He played representative cricket for Sri Lanka from 1979 to 1987 and became the first Sri Lankan test cricketer of any of the three distinct Sri Lankan Tamil groups (Jaffna, eastern and Negombo) in the island.

With his 214 runs in the 1979 ICC Trophy he was an integral part of Sri Lanka's tournament victory, as he played four matches with a batting average of 71.33, scoring 214 runs. The victory meant Sri Lanka qualified for the 1979 cricket World Cup, and, surprisingly, Sri Lanka won one match in that tournament as well. Dias made a patient 50 as Sri Lanka made their way to 238 for 5, before bowling India out for a meagre 191.

Sri Lanka was promoted to Test status three years later, and Dias was picked for the first Test. He had a difficult start, being dismissed for a duck by Bob Willis as Sri Lanka fell to 11 for 2, but battled better in the second innings against England's spinners Derek Underwood and John Emburey. He made 77, but when he departed and the third wicket fell, Sri Lanka fell apart from 140 for 3 to 175 all out, and England chased 171 to win with relative ease.

Indeed, Sri Lanka's first Test matches were promising, but in the end it often ran away from them at crucial moments. An example of this would be Dias' third Test, which was the second Test of three in Pakistan. Batting first, Sidath Wettimuny and Dias added 217 for the second wicket, then a Sri Lankan record partnership for any wicket. That enabled Sri Lanka to be on top, leading by 184 on first innings, but they could not bowl out Pakistan and had to settle for a draw. Sri Lanka went on to lose the series 0–2, despite Dias recording a career best 109 in the Third Test.